Steve Giddens Named Coach of the Year

A special celebration took place during halftime of the boy’s basketball game Friday, February 9th, 2018. Steve Giddens was presented with the NFHS Coaches Association Section Coach of the Year certificate.

The Executive Board of the Kansas State High School Activities Association selected Giddens as the 2017 National Federation Coaches Association, Kansas Softball Coach of the Year. This honor put Giddens in consideration and was selected for the National Federation Coaches Association Section 5 (Midwest) Softball Coach of the Year. The NFHS Section 5 is representative of coaches in Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and, South Dakota.

Giddens has been the head coach of the Shawnee Heights girls softball team for seventeen years. Of those seventeen years, the team went to the state tournament fifteen times. Though they got close a couple times, this year was the first that they won the state tournament! Giddens was also surprised with a celebration of his three-hundredth win last year. He averaged twenty wins a year for seventeen years to achieve this not so small feat.

“I loved coaching at Shawnee Heights. The hardest thing to give up was working on a day to day basis with great kids and getting to know them” said Giddens. Though Giddens retired in June, this did not put him out of the game. He is looking forward to having a different perspective on softball by starting his umpiring career.

Congratulation to Steve Giddens on becoming the 2017 NFHS Coaches Association Section Coach of the Year! Thank you for being a great role model, we wish you the best and hope to see you out on the field soon, even if you will be calling the outs.